The New Do

George was way over due for a haircut. I think he looks so handsome but so much older.

Snow Fun

On Friday we put on our snow gear and headed outside to enjoy the snow with some friends. The boys loved it and it was really nice to be outside. Luckily it wasn't too cold. George just ran through the snow for the first little bit. At one point he looked like he was just stuck - maybe with all of the gear he had a hard time moving.

George and Kyla on the sled

Samuel taking a turn on the disc


Jim was at work while we were enjoying the snow, but he had a chance to get the boys all geared up on Saturday and they went over to the park and played on the snowboard.

The Brain

About a week ago I found a coloring book of the human brain that I used in graduate school and thought that Samuel would probably enjoy looking at it. He looked at every one of the 300+ pages very carefully. After looking through the book (and talking about it nonstop), he drew this picture for me. He found the spelling of the words from the book and labelled each lobe of the brain A, B, C, etc.

I love that he is so interested in learning about different things. He came home from school on Friday and told me that he wanted to do a Great Brain project (they choose a topic, do research about it, make a project and then present it to the class) about the occipital lobe. Hmmm. That should be interesting!

Ringing In The New Year

January 1, 2010
Another relaxing day at the Moss home - the last one before we go back to our regular routine. We enjoyed the day by cleaning out the car, spending more time together and eating our gingerbread house (or ginger house as Samuel calls it).



The remains of the gingerbread house


Looking forward to a fabulous 2011!

Last Day of 2010

December 31, 2010
Jim had New Year's Eve off of work which was really nice. We spent the day together as a family and I think we even stayed in our pajamas most of the day (that never happens). We put together our gingerbread house


and took down Christmas decorations during the day. That evening we decided to just have a party at home with our little family.

Final family picture of 2010
It was really fun. We threw down a blanket in the living room, brought in (too many) treats and let the boys go crazy with them. They loved the freedom of eating cookies and candies that are usually limited. We also watched Toy Story 3.


The boys went to bed a little later than usual - around 9:00PM. Jim and I stayed up until midnight (barely) and then heard the fireworks going off all around our neighborhood and then went to sleep. It was so great just spending time together with our little family.

2010 has been a good year for us. We have much to be thankful for.

Mr. Baker

December 29, 2010
George loves to help in the kitchen. Whenever I start to unload the dishwasher he immediately stops whatever he is doing and comes over to help. I love that he even knows where the dishes go. He wanted to help me make pie crust on this day. So after I had already made the crust I gave him a blob to roll with the rolling pin.


He loved it! I guess he also had a little taste as evidenced by the flour on his face.

The Chocolate Lover

December 27, 2010
The title could be also be called "The Any Kind of Sweet Treat Lover". George loves sweets (I have no idea where he gets that from - uh hum). On this particular day George was found in the kitchen helping himself to Jim's delicious dark chocolate with blueberries bar. He pushed the stool over to the countertop, unwrapped this gigantic chocolate bar and proceeded to gnaw on it.


Luckily I found him before he had done too much damage. He sure does like chocolate. What a cutie. I did give him a piece of it - just not the entire bar.

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2010
What a fun Christmas we had this year. We told Samuel he had to stay in his room until 7:00AM. We put a clock in his room so that he would know what time it was. Evidently it wasn't necessary though because Jim was up by 6:30AM eagerly anticipating Christmas day festivities. At precisely 7:01 AM Jim walked into the hallway to get Samuel and George out of bed and practically ran into Samuel who had just opened his door and was also heading out into the hallway. George and I were still snug in our beds and would have happily stayed there for another hour or two. But we caved and got up with the other two so that we could go downstairs together.

Samuel and George checking out their stockings


Some happy and excited boys


(sleepy) George and his piano (George has always loved music, so we thought it would be fun for him to have his own little music maker)


Samuel and his globe (this was the one thing he said he really wanted for Christmas)


Presents from Aunt Stephanie



After we opened presents at our house and had breakfast we went to my parent's house and had a little lunch with my siblings and their kids and then we headed up to Bountiful to have dinner with Jim's siblings and their kids. It is so nice to live close enough to our families that we can visit and be with both families on special holidays.

We have also made it a tradition to visit Temple Square on Christmas Day to see the pretty lights and nativity and to help us remember what Christmas is really about.


We dressed the boys in their warm pajamas too


This year it was a little more crowded than last year, but it was still a great way to end our evening.

Annual Nutcracker Tradition

December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve day we have a tradition of attending the Ballet West production of The Nutcracker at the Capitol Theatre in SLC. Last year was Samuel's first time experiencing it and this year he was again excited to attend.

Picture with the large nutcracker

Waiting for the ballet to begin

He knew a little bit more of what to expect this time around and he seemed to really enjoy it once again.

You can't really tell in this picture, but Samuel was standing next to the pit where the orchestra plays. He was thrilled to see the musicians and their instruments.


After the ballet we picked up George from Jim's sister's house and headed up to Bountiful to have Christmas Eve dinner with Jim's parents. We had the traditional hawaiian haystacks - yum. After dinner we drove back home to get ready for Christmas day!

Christmas Eve night just before Jim and I went to bed.

Its A Girl!

December 23, 2010
This was an exciting day for us. I had my 20 week ultrasound and found out that we are having a little girl! We are all thrilled of course. It still doesn't even seem real that I am pregnant - I am sure that will come soon enough though. I feel so blessed to be able to bring to earth another special child and feel so grateful that Heavenly Father has entrusted his children in my care. Motherhood has been such an amazing experience for me - much harder than I thought it would be but also so much more rewarding than I ever imagined.

Provo Tabernacle Fire

December 18, 2010
There was a fire in the historic Provo Tabernacle that destroyed a lot of the historic building. It was kind of sad to see such a structure be destroyed. The fire is still being investigated and it is unknown what will happen to the building.

This picture has been floating around on Facebook and emails, etc. It is pretty amazing how the part of the picture with the Savior in it is untouched.

Happy Birthday Jim!

December 12, 2010
We celebrated Jim's birthday with some fondue, friends, and games the night before his actual birthday (I neglected to take pictures). On his actual birthday - which happened to fall on a Sunday - we had a nice evening together with a yummy dinner and some carrot cake with my parents.

Samuel is always creating things for us and he decided to make a paper Fiberoptic Endoscope (a little camera that goes through your nose to look at your vocal folds - Jim uses this at work frequently - the real one, not the paper one) for Jim's birthday present.

Another present


Cute George smiling for the camera


I forgot to get candles for his cake so we had to get a little creative with the candles we had in our cupboard.
Happy birthday to a wonderful father, great provider and best husband ever!

All Aboard For The North Pole Express

December 6, 2010 - Our friend Mindy had purchased tickets for this train ride in Heber but had something come up at the last minute and gave us her tickets. We purchased one more so that all four of us could go. This is something that I always thought would be fun to take the boys on, but it is a little pricey so I hadn't really pursued it. It was super nice of our friend to give us her tickets so that we could all go (without breaking the bank). It was a perfect night for a train ride because although the temperature wasn't warm, it was a lot warmer than it had been. We drove up to the Heber Valley Railroad and hopped on board our train car.
Boarding the train car



They had it all decorated with Christmas decor and fun Christmas music was playing.


We found some seats at the back of the train car (which was a great place to sit!).

The workers were dressed up in aprons and hats (like the train car workers in the book/movie "Polar Express").

During the train ride to the "North Pole" we ate cookies and had hot chocolate while one of the workers read "T'was the Night Before Christmas".

Once we arrived at the North Pole, Santa came on board and each child was able to sit on his lap and get a picture taken.
Samuel with Santa

George with Santa

He also had a little gift (toy top) for each child. Then we rode back to the train station while singing Christmas carols and answering Christmas trivia.

Overall it was a nice evening out together as a family. We haven't really played up the whole "Santa" thing, so our boys didn't really get some of the magic of the whole thing, but it was still a fun time. (Thanks again Mindy!)

Samuel's First Concert

December 3, 2010 Samuel and I attended a fun concert by the Utah Premiere Brass. This was Samuel's first time going to a concert and he was super excited. I thought his enthusiasm might wear off as he had to sit there and just listen, but he loved every minute of it. It was at the Covey Center for the Arts and it happened to be a Christmas themed concert - which made it even more fun for him.

As the band played the first song Samuel had the biggest grin on his face and you could just tell that he was having a great time. He identified most of the instruments that he saw and probably would have given me a running commentary throughout the entire concert, but I quietly explained that we just needed to sit and listen so we wouldn't disrupt the music for the people around us.

During intermission a few of the performers left their instruments on stage so Samuel and I went up near the front of the stage and he just looked with huge eyes! He loved it.

I loved that I was there with him for his first concert and saw the excitement in his smile, eyes, and face. Before the concert ended he asked when we would be going to another one. I am happy that he enjoys good music.

Picture of Samuel before the concert began.